144 HALF-HOURS IN THE UREEN LANES. 



one, and we should have a strong analogy in the 

 hydrozoa and jelly-fish. Structural investigation 

 has shown that the immature organs of wings, &c, 

 may be traced in the caterpillar of a butterfly when 

 it is only a few days old, and before it has attained 

 anything like the bulk of body which its voracious 

 appetite presently obtains for it. Let any one who 

 wishes to trace the gradual perfection of the organs 

 from this immature stage to their perfection, care- 

 fully study Professor Duncan's lecture, on ' Insect 

 Metamorphoses,' delivered before the British Asso- 

 ciation in 1872. 



If you care to sacrifice one of the commonest 

 butterflies you may meet with in a country walk to 

 your new-found love for science, you will not be 

 without food for wonder for many a day to come, 

 especially if you possess two things a microscope 

 and patience ! In its eyes you may perceive com- 

 pound lenses, thousands in number, each one of 

 which is capable of refracting a ray of light pro- 

 ceeding from any object. In its coiled-up proboscis 

 you discover an ingeniously-jointed and flexible tube ; 

 and in the antennae marvellous and mysterious 

 organs of a sense with which we mortals are 

 unacquainted. For it is a well-known fact among 

 entomologists, that if the young virgin female of 

 many species of moths and butterflies be enclosed 

 in a perforated box, it will draw numbers of the 

 males from all parts of the horizon to it. The sense 

 that can be operated upon so refiuedly must transcend 



